Over the past fifty years we have witnessed phenomenal economic growth in Asia, lifting millions of people out of poverty, and propelling many Asian nations to premier ranks in the global order, but as the social and ecological costs become more apparent, economic and demographic growth looms as both promise and peril. The concept of growth has not only been central to economic theory and ecological critique, but also to social and cultural theories of societal and civilizational transformation that increasingly challenges universalizing Western notions of modernity.

This conference critically examines the notion of growth and the ways in which it is shaping social-political landscapes in Asia. We define and question growth in this very broad sense, implying that quantitative changes are inevitably accompanied by qualitative transformations, and paying equal attention to the intricate interconnectedness of naturally occurring growth and human interference as well as to its limitations, stagnation, decline and renewal. Understood in this extended sense, the term and related concepts can be fruitfully used to explore social, economic and cultural processes across time and space within the macro-region of Asia (and beyond) from cross-disciplinary perspectives.

Based on this notion of growth not as an autonomous, self-determined entity but as the outcome of close and constant interaction between nature and purposeful human action, at this conference we propose to rethink and scrutinize this concept from an Asian perspective and from multi-disciplinary vantage points - cultural, economic and social.

Deadline for submitting abstracts: 15 January 2013

Please visit the conference website to read the full call for abstracts http://asiandynamics.ku.dk/english/growth/.

The conference is organized by the Asian Dynamics Initiative, a cross-faculty and inter-disciplinary research priority area at the University of Copenhagen. http://asiandynamics.ku.dk/english/

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